Report: Fiat 500X Will Be Canceled as 500e Arrives

Fiat dealers seem to have it rough compared to most. But that presents an opportunity for car shoppers – if you want what they have to sell, they’ll often sell it at a discount.

Fiat dealerships in America have just one model to sell – the 500X subcompact SUV. Our test driver found that its 177-horsepower turbocharged engine “delivers energetic acceleration and still returns decent fuel economy considering the standard all-wheel drive.”

The ride is otherwise “adequate but not particularly impressive.”

The 500X’s most impressive feature may be the deal you can negotiate on one. Fiat dealers sold just 59 nationwide in October. Most sold for below sticker price, with an average of $2,428 in incentives. With new car prices nearing record highs, that kind of discount is rare.

It’s also likely the reason the 500X’s days are numbered. Fiat CEO Olivier Francois told Motor Trend, “When it dies, it dies. We will not replace it.”

Instead, the brand has “a clear plan to not do anything besides the 500.” Those may sound like the same car if you’re unfamiliar with Fiat.

They aren’t. The Fiat 500 is the brand’s signature car in Europe. A tiny 2-door right out of your fantasies about morning coffee in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, it’s been absent from the U.S. market for a few years.

But it’s coming back in 2024, this time as an electric car. Fiat will continue to build gas-powered 500s for Europe, Francois says. But not the States. “Want a gas 500? Sorry, you can’t,” he told MT.

“Fiat is not here to be everything to everyone everywhere,” he added.

This may be unwelcome news for Fiat dealers, who would probably like more than one model to sell. But it’s a buying opportunity for you if you want one of the only cars still available at a discount in 2022.